This is with the February kit from A MIllion Memories.
Once the knows he’s got your attention,
he will stop at nothing to see the smiles.
Aren’t you so very lucky?
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Not a good photo day. Happens sometimes. I spent the morning playing with some fabric and while I was doing that, Nathaniel made a mess with my yarn and crochet thread. He made quite a sizable mess.
I then went to the hairdresser which was long overdue. Then I came back and finished my project while Nathaniel was still napping. When he woke up, we went to lunch cause it’s been absolutely beautiful outside. We did a bit of fruit shopping and then came back home. I rested and cleaned up while David played the Wii and Nathaniel tried to balance one of my bean bags on his head.
And then he walked around more, creating a trail of mess right behind him.
By then it was dinner time so we ate and now we’re getting ready for bed, winding down. After then are comfortably in bed, we get to go on our date night. Short but great day! Note to Self: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For: Here’s this week’s item: My first few attempts to learn to crochet were immediately aborted. I couldn’t find a video that was clear and kept messing up over and over again. And then finally I got lucky about ten days ago and found these amazing videos (thanks to this post) and they finally helped me unlock all I needed to know. So, then, I went searching for a doily which is all I’ve wanted to do. I found these videos and here’s the motif I picked. And here’s my finished one.
a bit crooked but for my first project ever, not terrible. Then I decided to get more adventurous and make a butterfly:
And finally I went back to this heart I’d bookmarked a long time ago and even did one of those (I used it on an upcoming catalyst which is why it’s glued to paper.)
I am still FAR from a crochet expert and have yet to join threads but it’s certainly a start and I do know how to crochet now.
A quiet, wonderful day here. Some sewing, some playing together, a bunch of work, some more playing, some reading and of course some photo taking. The little one is still snot-nosed.
But there’s still a lot of love and impromptu hugging here. It’s so lovely.
And David is so good at playing with his little brother.
Who is also so good at playing by himself. Not whining or needing me even when he’s all snot-nosed. They are such good players. Extra thankful for that since it means I can do work.
And they laugh together a lot.
David was so excited to receive the legos his grandparents bought him. He immediately went to work putting them together and hasn’t stopped playing since.
Except to be kind to his brother.
I am off to feed the boys and bathe them an on and on. Then I get to have some quiet time to do today’s catalyst. Then I get to read some and maybe start a project. Or maybe just rest. This weekend will be relaxing, or so I hope. And I am feeling peaceful today. Happy Weekend. Note to Self: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For:
Let the Great World Spin was our book club choice for my other book club. It came from my list of books to read this year. I’d read that this was a good book and I offered some choices to the group and this is what they chose. It’s a collection of short stories and I don’t usually like short stories. But these stories are linked in a subtle (and sometimes in not so subtle) ways and after I made it through the first story, I absolutely loved this book. To me, it was a great example of how if you zoomed way way out and looked at us, you’d realize how very linked we all are. Quite amazing and so true. And it’s beautifully written to boot. Highly recommended. When I saw these counting bags I knew I wanted to make them. I didn’t have any fusible webbing so I just glued and I am not nearly as good at hand stitching as I should be but it doesn’t matter. Also, I didn’t have any beans to stuff them with so I just used the stuffing I had at hand. They look like mini pillows. Since they are for David, he got to choose the fabric. Since his favorite color is green, there’s a lot of green.
For the cover, I used white muslin:
Here’s 1-2-3
4-5-6
7-8-9
and 10
here are all the backs:
here are all the fronts:
and here they are on his shelf:
This was a super-fun project. Highly recommended.
Journaling Reads: Ten years. In that time, I’ve had periods where I wrote several times a day and periods where I barely wrote at all. For a while it was all about my thoughts, then it was only photography, and then about my kids. Scrapbooking. Reading. Basically, whatever my current obsession was, my blog became about that. And today, I blog at least twice a day. I keep a daily journal of my life, of my thoughts, of my gratitude. And one of the things I am most grateful for is the blog itself. It’s a record of my life. My passions. My thoughts. My pains and joys. The cities I’ve lived in, the chances I took, the struggles I had. I love going back through the years and reading random entries. I love reliving those moments. Each time I feel tired and not in the mood to write my blog, I remind myself how much I love having it and I sit and write.
Today was David’s last day at pre-school. He’s now officially on summer break. And then in September, he starts kindergarten. How quickly time passess… I grabbed a bunch of photos with his teacher (one of them, his favorite) but I didn’t want to show a face-shot in case he doesn’t want his photo all over the net.
And here’s a shot with several of his closest friends. I blurred all the faces but, honestly, i think the photo still shows how funny and sweet they were all being.
Then I snapped one more of David on his way out. We’ve been going to this preschool since he was 2.5, we’ve got quite a few memories here.
Nathaniel’s still sick and he’s very very cranky. He didn’t take a morning nap and spent 35 minute crying after he woke up from his afternoon nap. Just lay on the floor here and cried. Neither of us could stop him. But earlier in the day, when we came back from school, he walked around for a while and just randomly gave David a hug. I couldn’t believe my eyes and grabbed the camera. David was totally shocked too..
He kept walking around and then coming back to give him a hug.
Again and again.
It made me cry to see how much he loves his brother and that he learned to hug!
And of course David hugged him back, too.
I know they are bad shots but it was hard to catch it especially since I was busy being so emotional. It was a good day in that I decided to take the day off and I finished my work for BPS and AMM and now it’s just doing catalysts and sewing and painting etc for the rest of the month. It was relaxing not to have to juggle work and the kids. But it was a rough day cause nathaniel was so sad and so frustrated that it broke my heart. Note to Self: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For: This week’s download is some childhood themed printables. Here is what they look like:
You can download it here: Childhood Journaling download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you’d like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don’t have to but I’d appreciate a link back if you do use them. If you like these downloads, I really do need some ideas. I seem to be running dry. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Thursday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. If you like my downloads, please click here and give me ideas/requests for 2010. I would like to continue this feature but I am not sure I can come up with enough ideas on my own.
Another lots-of-photos post. Nathaniel woke up with a runny nose today and he was miserable all day cause you could tell he couldn’t breathe through it. Oh, and, he woke up at 4:50am. Oh yes. God help me. Here he is with the little word-book we made for David. We’re not using it as much as we should. We’re about halfway through.
And then David decided to entertain him.
We won this hat at the Sunset party.
And Nathaniel laughed and laughed.
And laughed.
His cheeks were extra-pink from being sick but I love this photo of him.
And I took one of the boy with blue eyes, too.
Another favorite from today. They look like they’re whispering secrets to each other and smiling. I love them so.
David entertaining him more. He’s just the most amazing brother.
Nathaniel was hungry all day, too cause he didn’t want to eat what I gave him. He went into the panty, found these puffs, brought them to me to open and then walked around munching on them. (until he dropped a whole bunch on the floor which is when we took the bottle away.)
And then there was a lot of lying on the floor resting. (Needed I’m sure when there’s no napping happening.)
And now they are both upstairs, one sleeping, the other playing. I am overwhelmingly tired. I apologize for no blog posts today. I am feeling really really tired and could not muster up the motivation. Note to Self: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For:
Last night was rough on all of our family. David woke up with nightmares at 11pm. And then I woke up around 2am with a startle and freezing. And then Jake rolled over to me soon after with his own nightmare. And finally at 3am, Nathaniel cried out and had peed all over himself and the bed. That made for a great start to today. But I had begun my layout last night so I got up and completed a layout I made for Ali’s Summer-themed call. I turned out sort of the way I imagined it so I was happy but also drained. But then I sat and started planning my project for the BPS August promotion and that took a whole bunch of time, too. Between the two layouts, I used 47 photos. Amazing eh? In the meantime, Nathaniel decided he wasn’t going to nap today. So he didn’t sleep despite my patience. When we finally picked him up, I got a lot of this:
and this:
here he is staring at me while I am at the stair landing between the two floors, taking photos of my layouts.
And here he is after some food that he chose to wear instead of eat.
Then David came back home and he was in a fun mood, too. So gave me one of his special faces.
While Nathaniel tangled himself up in the headphones and got exponentially more frustrated. Cause he also skipped his afternoon nap. (Oh, yes he did.)
So by the time I put him down, he was in full melt down mode. It was pure joy. I finally got him bathed, dressed, nursed and in bed and he just about collapsed into sleep. Here’s to hoping it’s a better night. I have a feeling tonight’s tasks aren’t going to get done. I have to write up my project and that will take precedence and then I will be too tired to function. So that’s that. Note to Self: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For: Quite amazingly, we’re about halfway through the year. When I look back upon this year, I remember so many little things and yet most of the year is a blur. I take a lot of photos everyday but I can’t remember if a photo was taken this year or last. The days, the weeks, the months all seem to merge. I think that’s partly because so many of us lead such busy lives. We’re always on the go go go. And we’re also always thinking one step ahead (assuming we’re not lost in the past.) Worrying about tomorrow’s assignments, next week’s deadlines, and sometimes even about things that are far into the future. If we’re not focusing on the future by dreading it, we focus on it with anticipation. Counting the days until the next vacation. Waiting for the moment the kids are in bed. Looking forward to date night. I could go on and on. The future has a strong effect on us. It also has a way of stopping us from focusing on the most important thing we have: now. This very moment. I’m a planner so I know all about planning for the future. The near and the far. Looking forward, dreading, anticipating, etc. I do them all. But one of the things I’ve been working on more this year is mindfulness. Being more in the moment. This moment. I guess this is something I’ve wanted to work on for a while because my word for 2008 was journey. As in, “life is the journey, not the destination.” Destinations are great. I daresay they are necessary. But the journey is the key. Focusing only on the destination will mean missing millions of opportunities for fulfillment, joy, growth, and most importantly, gratitude. I’ve spent a lot of time this year, looking at my moments, feeling grateful for the journey of everyday. Don’t get me wrong, I love the destinations, too. I am grateful when we finally reach a milestone or accomplish something we’ve been working towards. But I am also trying to focus on the moments in between. The paths that lead us there. The churn of the ordinary moments. Those are the pathways and the journey is life. Being grateful for the journey, leads to being grateful for life. So I invite all of you to spend a little more time focusing on the journey and being grateful for its paths. The following is cross-posted from the Weekly Gratitude Blog. I will post there every Tuesday and decided to post those posts here, too. For those of you who read both blogs, I apologize in advance. Some weeks the content might be different and other weeks, exactly the same. |
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